John Gardiner (9 September 1798 – 16 November 1878) was a banker and pastoralist in the early part of British settlement of Melbourne and Australia.
In October, accompanied by his wife, her parents and their three sons, he sailed for Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania) in the Andromeda.
Both he and John Hepburn drove the cattle overland to his Gardiner's Creek run, near Melbourne.
In 1837, less than two years after Batman’s landing and within weeks of the formal laying out of Melbourne, Gardiner was searching for stray cattle from his cattle run which extended over most of present-day Hawthorn, when he discovered the upper Yarra regions (towards Lilydale).
Gardiner left and returned to England, where he retired to Leamington Spa, Warwickshire.